Myoffer still stands
Dynamite the cathedral! That’s what I once wrote to The Press. It even got published. I also volunteered to push the button to detonate it.
It was a time of big debates and strong feelings. There were two options; build a new cathedral which the Anglicans could probably afford, or restore the old cathedral, which the Anglicans probably couldn’t.
A group of prominent people led a campaign of legal intimidation that pressured the Anglicans into option two. This gave us what we have now, a prominently expensive ruin.
No doubt the ruin will need rescuing with great gobs of public money because ratepayers are frequently afflicted by the aesthetics of the affluent. It was always going to be this way.
However, should dynamite become a possibility, my offer is still open.
Alan Aitken, Riccarton
Television’s tumble
I agree with most of what Janet Wilson says about the current debacle in TV News and Current Affairs (Cataclysmic week for Fourth Estate as its failings catch upwithit, April 13). If this irresponsible slash and burn goes through, New Zealand will have only one news channel, TV One, and no properly funded in-depth current affairs programmes on any channel, other than perhaps publicly funded Māori TV.
This is Third World broadcasting. Friends overseas, some ex-pat New Zealanders, just cannot believe television has fallen to this dumbed-down, primitive level.
Most other developed countries we pretend to compare ourselves with, such as those in Europe, the UK, Australia and even the US, publicly fund some TV news and current affairs as a vital part of the democratic fabric.
I find it totally inadequate that there appears to be no financial analysis by other media as to whether television is as financially strapped as it claims? What do programmes like Sunday or TV3 News really cost when compared to advertising revenue, or other funding?
A G Talbot, St Albans
Commercial decisions
The closing of news offices and news programmes by Warner Bros Discovery (Newsmax) and TVNZ is a damning indictment on our society.
The closures were commercial decisions, meaning that the statistical ratings of numbers of viewers watching were not attracting enough advertising revenue.
Warner Bros is continuing with entertainment-based shows, shows with little of the intellectual challenge that news programmes bring. Viewers have voted with their remote controls for inane entertainment rather than history, current affairs and intellectual challenge - the very important things so necessary to make sound decisions about politics, economics and society.
Maybe the National Party will respond by running Homer from The Simpsons as its next entertaining prime minister candidate as there will be scant news services to cover policy.
Charles Drace, Christchurch Central
Marine reserve
What an awesome effort by the people who have seen through the successful implementation of the marine reserve in Akaroa (Thriving among uncertainty, April 13).
Having watched the degradation of our environment over the past 40 or so years it has become clear that we must acknowledge the importance of this type of work.
We are environmental bed pals with Russia and China, with 0.4% of our coast being allocated to marine reserves. I am certain our waterways would have the same appalling rating. That serves no-one well and provides no pathway into a sustainable future.
I grew up lucky enough to be spoiled with abundant seafood, swimmable rivers and drinkable water, but now, due to the lack of sensible management of these precious resources, coupled with the increased population, stresses have been put on our natural world, making it clear we must change our ways or accept a shameful future.
This isn’t tree-hugging BS. Every fisherman, every hunter, every tramper, in fact every outdoor person, must surely realise how important this is.
Andrew Docking, Sumner
Bridge damage
From photos (Rail bridge badly damaged in flood, April 13) it appears the recent damage to the Rangitata railway bridge has, to a significant degree, been caused by ECan turning a braided river into effectively an oversized irrigation channel.
It has done this to protect the large (possibly illegally) appropriated tracts of riverbed taken for farming, including the riverbed of the south branch.
This work has largely prevented excess flood flow from diverting down the south branch.
The result is that at normal flood levels, the bulk of the river flow now deflects off the south stopbank by the railway bridge and flows parallel to the bridge before deflecting east again.
The bridge supports, with their solid concrete portion above the piles, are not designed to withstand this force against them. They are fine if the river flows in the normal west-east pattern for which they were designed.
ECan should be called upon to contribute to the bridge repair and remediate the riverbed, returning it to the flow pattern that previously existed, allowing the south branch to act as a safety overflow at normal flood levels.
B R Armstrong, Islington
Climate warning
Bravo Warren Pettigrew, whose letter in yesterday’s Press highlights the latest of many warnings about our current disastrous climate trajectory. But that letter looked sad and lonely, lost among the dozens of recent letters fretting over the Anglican cathedral rebuild and other local issues.
Nationally and globally, repeat polling shows a majority of citizens are seriously concerned about the climate crisis. So why does this concern fail to translate into political action, or personal lifestyle changes?
It would be great to see a professional journalist analyse the many reasons why a species with the cheek to label itself Homo ‘sapiens’ simply refuses to acknowledge we are wrecking our own future. Graham Townsend, Kennedys Bush
International law
In December 2023, after Israel killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in their own country, Winston Peters stated that the House “recognis[es] Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law”. This month, after the country has been flattened and a further 10,000 are dead, Winston labels it a catastrophe.
This month, Israel kills seven people in an airstrike at an Iranian consulate. Iran sends a warning via rockets, kills nobody, and stops. Winston Peters does not condemn Israel’s actions, does condemn Iran’s, and states that “escalation and retaliation do not equal self-defence under international law”. How many people does Israel have to kill before Peters labels this one a catastrophe?
It seems his definitions of international law change to favour Israel, or is it to satisfy America’s persuasions?
Todd Williamson, St Albans
Dangerous escalation
New Zealand is, as yesterday’s headline on page 15 said, “poorly placed to weather [an] unstable global environment”.
Our once-great reputation being tarnished is not the worst problem from our current lack of initiative; the fall-out from international instability will be widespread and horrendous. Big countries with vested interests are really less able than many, like ours, to defuse such situations.
We should be more vocal in campaigning against any escalation of attacks, irrespective of who the victim is, and inspire other countries to do the same.
The escalation in Iran/Israel tit-for-tat attacks is very dangerous, yet there are clues that Iran wants to limit escalation to some extent - restricting itself to military targets and warning of the attack in advance.
Hope exists even when leaders on both sides feel the need to look strong and not back down. But it takes an independent country to be an effective peacemaker: not with a stick, but with a determination to acknowledge continued war is not getting solved by present strategies, and to help each side find stability without any loss of face.
Mark Aitchison, Sydenham